The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has interrogated Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, over his alleged connection to the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).
Gbajabiamila voluntarily appeared at the ICPC headquarters in Abuja on Monday, July 20, 2026, accompanied by his legal counsel, Jiti Ogunye.
According to Ogunye, the Chief of Staff provided a detailed account of his knowledge regarding the fictitious body, answered all questions put forward by investigators, and returned to his official duties shortly after.The interrogation stems from a 30-day investigation ordered by President Tinubu into the operations of the non-existent council and the broader systemic lapses that allowed it to operate under the guise of an official presidential initiative.
The promoter of the scheme, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, who posed as the agency’s Director-General, had previously accused Gbajabiamila of soliciting a ₦400 million bribe and demanding a 48 percent kickback from a proposed ₦27.3 billion take-off grant.
Gbajabiamila has forcefully denied these claims as false and defamatory, initiating a ₦10 billion libel suit against Adeyemi, who is currently facing charges of forgery and impersonation.
Concurrently, an Ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives, chaired by Representative Yusuf Gagdi, opened a public hearing investigating how the phantom agency secured official perks despite lacking statutory backing.
During the proceedings, Hamisu Ibrahim, the Director of Banking Services at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), testified that the apex bank opened two foreign currency domiciliary accounts, in U.S. Dollars and British Pounds, for the council. Ibrahim explained that the CBN acted on a formal authorization mandate issued on July 29, 2025, by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF).
He noted that the accounts maintained a zero balance, received no funding or transactions, and were never officially activated with mandate cards or signature cards before the fraudulent scheme was uncovered.The hearing revealed wider administrative breaches within the federal bureaucracy.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, admitted to the House panel that her office failed to verify the authenticity of documents submitted by the body before issuing an authorized staff establishment for 314 positions and granting a recruitment waiver. The council also managed to be listed in the 2026 Appropriation Act with a ₦1.3 billion allocation.
In response to these revelations, the House committee has summoned key government bodies, including the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Ministry of Finance, the Budget Office of the Federation, and the Accountant-General of the Federation, to account for the administrative lapses that enabled the fake agency to acquire official legitimacy.
